OFF DUTY

After Hours

2 successful opticians divulge their fave après-work activities

what do you do after work when you close up shop? We’ve found that though great opticians love their work, they also love their time off.

Here, two eye experts—one from the East Coast and another from the West Coast—sit down with us to dish on their favorite activities once they lock the doors.

Teddy Hamilton

Teddy Hamilton, a native of Minnesota, has spent five years under sunny skies at Gogosha Optique in Los Angeles. But after work, she fills her evenings with hands-on hobbies.

th: I just started taking piano lessons for the first time since I was a kid. I also sew a lot. I’m working on starting a new little venture to add pockets to people’s dresses, because it’s so frustrating when a dress doesn’t have pockets, right? So I’m trying to work on honing my sewing skills.

eb: How do you like to blow off steam?

th: The best stress relief, for me recently, is paint-by-numbers. It’s something where you have to focus, but there’s no expectation of greatness because you’re doing a paint-by-numbers. You can just zone out. I like my quiet time. I’m not a person who has parties; I’m the person who says, ‘Let’s go have a drink and talk about life.’

eb: Where do you go when you go out?

th: I’m on a trivia team called Panic Attack and we’re pretty competitive. We go almost every week on Monday nights to a place called Pitfire Pizza for King Trivia. I love it. It’s fun. You get to feel like a smarty-pants.

Teddy Hamilton with Julia Gogosha in the shop

One of Hamilton’s stress-relief projects

eb: Do you have a trivia specialty?

th: Pop culture, which is funny because at one point the answer to a question was Iggy Azalea, and one of the guys on my team was like, ‘I don’t think…are those words?’ and I was like, ‘Trust me. I’ve got this.’

eb: You’ve got all these creative outlets.

th: I’ve always been really creative, but I was never brought up in a way where creativity meant that you had to have a job from your creativity. It’s just a different form of expression. A couple weeks ago I took a welding class, and [I want to learn] furniture making and all kinds of stuff.

eb: You’re going to end up with a whole cottage industry!

th: I get restless really easily so I think finding different things to keep me interested is what I need, because I used to just move every few years. A friend of mine says [of LA], ‘If you get bored just move five miles and it’s a whole new city.’

Valerie Vittu

Valerie Vittu is originally from a town in the French Alps, near Lyon. But now she runs two locations of Margot & Camille, her eyewear boutique, in Philadelphia and Doylestown, PA. Though her work schedule is demanding, she prides herself on knowing how to relax.

eb: Small business ownership can feel like an all-the-time job. How do you take time off?

vv: Well, I don’t really take a [full] day off, but I do take some breaks. In the summer I grab my two kids and we go to the [New] Jersey shore. I do like what I call the instant vacation, where I tell myself, ‘Make sure you put a smile on and you’re in a good mood because fun is here, now, just for that amount of time.’

I also go to France, to our factory, which is mixing business and pleasure. But it’s the same thing: You’re in the moment and you take the moment and really, fully enjoy it. It doesn’t matter if the weather is nice or not.

eb: You said you have children?

vv: Yes! Margot and Camille are my kids.

eb: So the shop is named after them?

vv: Yes, they came first and then the store. Margot is going to be 21, and Camille just turned 11.

eb: How do the three of you like to spend time together?

vv: We’re really big on quality time. We like to go to breakfast or brunch on Sunday morning. We all go to the movies. It doesn’t matter what we do. My secret with my daughter [Margot] on Mondays—while the little one is at school—is to go for a massage.

eb: Spa day!

vv: A nice massage, nails, hair, and then the day is gone. Nobody talks to you. It’s, like, totally unplugged.

I also like to, you know, connect with my friends, eating, drinking together—but not drinking too much because I can’t drink. [*Laughing*] I’m a lightweight! But it’s lovely to catch up with everybody.

Valerie Vittu catching the sights of Chicago for a weekend with friend Sophie Raubiet

eb: When you have friends over, what do you have?

vv: When I cook at home? I make chicken curry, soup, [or] quiche, of course! French cooking is easy: you just have to learn to make sauce. Everything else can be steamed. But the sauce is what makes the dish.

—Emily Teel

Emily Teel is a regular contributor to Edible Philly and Foobooz, the food blog for Philadelphia Magazine. While she has a soft spot for all things gastronomical, she is also a devoted eyewear aficionado and fan of opticians near and far.